Thanks to Dave Kissane who is demoing one, I got the opportunity to use the new WOW (Walk on Water) 'dug out' 14 footer in the Bondi to Watsons Bay ocean race on Sat.
Being 27 inches wide I was expecting it to be a bit of a handful but the 'dug out' deck made the board incredible easy to balance on. I am not that up on what works for ocean paddling/DW but have been lucky enough to paddle quite a few different boards.
This one is the easiest I have paddled when it comes to picking up the limited runners on offer and the dug out section does not have a ridge so it would be easy to step back in windier conditions.
Most of the DWing we do in Sydney involves paddling past massive headlands with lots of backwash - not to mention cross swells, chop etc; so a bit of stability is a real plus for our conditions. The race on Sat involved about 8km of cliff paddling and the backwash was pretty intense. The WOW handled it very well and the only fall I had was from looking around and losing my balance.
It seemed quite fast heading upwind over the last 3 km and it seemed to keep up with Neelie on the ACE who was in front of me for most of the race until the last few hundred meters.
The board is very light also which seemed to help with getting on to the very limited runners on offer. A couple of the boys on the 17 foot sics reckoned it was impossible to catch anything!
Overall I reckon this is a perfect board for someone who wants a board that can do a bit of everything - flatwater race, DW race, cruise or race your mates DWing on the weekend. Very stable for it's width and with the dugout being flat it would be fine for taking on some pretty hardcore winds as you could get right back if necessary.
I am keen to try the 25 Ace now and see if I can stay upright
I'm stoked with the way the 14' RDO (race dug out) goes in a variety of conditions.
It's super stable for 27" wide and will pick up tiniest runners and stay on them for ages. The concave bottom really helps out and gives it a bit of lift to keep it motoring along.
After the ocean series race on saturday, I got to take the WOW board for a short spin in the bay, and as you can tell by the photo it floats my 100kg frame fine plenty of volume and stable.
Paddling out in the bay and catching runners coming off the boats going by it picked up every bump and took off.
Will be good to give this board a longer demo see how it goes.
I've been on both this one and the 14x27" Ace, at around 120kegs both were surprisingly stable for me but I reckon the WoW is more so. FWIW I found it easier to get on little runners on the WoW. I also found the WoW comes around a bit more easily in a turn, it's relatively easy to step back on and bring around and IMO comes around more easily in a cross-bow turn than the Ace. Speed? they both feel fast to me but I'm a slug on any board so I'd best leave comment on that to the quicks, or the next great 14' board test.
Looks very similar to the Starboard Coast Runner, just a slightly diiferent nose. What volume does it come in at?
